Vessel of peace takes a new form

Ten years after renegade Israeli peacemaker Abie Nathan sunk his pirate radio station in the Mediterranean Sea, Israeli and Palestinian activists have launched a land-based version of his Voice of Peace.

Mr Nathan launched the Voice of Peace in 1973, broadcasting a mix of news, peace messages and pop music from somewhere in the Mediterranean. Despite high ratings, advertising revenue dwindled and Mr Nathan sunk the ship in 1993 after running out of funds.

The New Voice of Peace has been launched as a joint initiative by an Israeli education centre, Givat Haviva, and the Palestinian weekly newspaper The Jerusalem Times. The station will be jointly managed by an Israeli and a Palestinian and has been funded by the European Commission.

"We'll try to avoid politics and instead we will play music and do talk shows which deal with cultural issues," said the station's Israeli manager, Shimon Malka.

"We know it won't be easy. We will have shows in Hebrew and in Arabic. Both languages are the language of the enemy. It's not easy for someone in Gaza to hear Hebrew. We're aware of that."